Copper-smelting furnace.



w. G. PERKINS.

COPPER SMELTING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED .IAN.20, 1913.l 1,136,834.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER GEORGE BEBKINS, 0F LONDON, ENGLAND I corran-summers FUnNacE.

To all it may rconcern Be 1t known that I, Wannenk GEORGE PER- Kms, a subject of the King of Great Britain,

residing in London, England, (whose postoliice address is 62 London Wall, in the city of LondonfEnglandJ have invented vcertain new and useful Improvements in Copr-Smelting Furnaces, of which the follow.- mlis a specification. odern reverberatory furnaces for cop er smelting are of considerable length, 110' eet being a common length in vcertain districts. These furnaces have to be heated to a'high temperature with compara-tively little fall of temperature from the end to the other end. It has been possible to obtain this heating where long flame coal, such as one having a calorilic value of 11000-14000 B. T. U, has been readily obtainable.- The supply of such fuel, however, .is becoming scarce and with-the average coal of calorific value about 8000 B. T. U., it is no longer possible to heat long reverberatory furnaces for copper smelting. It has therefore become an urgent necessity in copper smelting practice to apply gas-firing to such furnaces, and in View of the fact that the waste gases leave the furnace at a high temperature this mode of ring can onl be rofitable if regenerators are used. It7 is t e use of regenerators, however, that has proved the obstacle to successful gas-firing. Copper smelting furnaces, have indeed been built on the principle of the regenerative steel furnaces, namely with reversible heat-4 ing at the ends of the furnace, but these have proved very costly and have been abandoned owing to the necessity for frequent stoppages in order that the regenerators may be cleared of dust, which 1s carried' away in large proportion by the waste gases of a reverberatory copper smelting furnace. By my invention I am the first to apply successful regenerative gas-firing to reverberatory furnaces for cop er smelting.

The invention consists o a non-reversible,

gas-fired reverberatory furnace, a regen.

Specification of Letters Ratent.

; .-'Appueauon mea-January 2o, 191s. serial 11p. 743,159.

of regenerator chambers e,- 01 and the producex-s d. Fig. 2 is an elevation, the reverberatory furnace having been removed. Fig. 3 1s a verticalsection on lineB-S of Fig. 1.

The producersd are placedv as near to the Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

furnace as possible and the gas flows through the collecting flue e to the gas ports f. Issuing from these the gas meets the secondary air issuingl from ports g having owed through e reigenerator as hereinafter'descr1bed. The nace a and the waste ases pass through fluelt into the dust cham er b provided with clearing doors i, man-holes la and a baille Wall Z- Here the greater met 0f the-dust carried by the waste gases is'deposited and in order to avoid trouble from the rest in the regenerator, the gases leaving thedust chamber enter the regenerator at the bottom thereof so as to flow upwardly therethrough. v

The regenerator chambers 0; c1 are constructed in the usual manner with checker brickwork. Each -is connected with the dust chamber by a short flue controlled by a'valve c2, c3, while at the upper part of the other end each communicates by a flue 04, c with the chimney flue m which may lead to a chimney stack, a fan or other source of draft. At the lower part of the same end each regenerator communicates through a {'lue controlled by a valve d, c with the secondary air flue n; at the top of the regenerator at'the end far from the last named valve is an air admission valve, 0, o1, the air ame travels along-the f urflowingdownwardly through the regenclosed and valves es, c and o are opened the waste gases are now drawn upwardly through chamber c1 and the air downwardly through chamber c.

The dust-collecting chamber, as shown, is

of such a size that it provides an enlarged passageway for the waste gases as compared we l with the lue k which leads thereto from the furnace and the ilues which lead there' from to the regenerator. The velocity of the waste gases is thereby reduced while such gases are Aon their way through the bottom of the dust chamber. Accumulation of dust in the bottom o f the dust chamber avoids interruption or other interference with the continuous operation of the apparatus, and such accumulation can be readily removed from time to time as may be required through the' clearing doors z'. Y y' The passages of the regenerator will be kept clear. of any traces o du'st which may be carried along with the gases enterin the regenerator, by providing an 11p-dra of such gases through the regenerator and a ndown-draft of the air therethrough.

Having now described the nature of my said invention and the best means I know of'carrying the same into practical effect, I claimzy Y 1. In a copper smeltng plant, the combination oa non-reversible gas-fired reverberatoi'y furnace, a checker-work regeln erator and means embodying an enlarged chamber between the said furnace and regenerator adapted to remove clust from the waste gases passing from the furnace to the regenerator.

2. In a copper smelting plant, the comhi- Y nation of a non-reversible gas-red reverberatory furnace, a checker-work regen- WALTER GEORGE PERKINS,

Witnesses:

JOSEPH MILLARD, W. I. SKERTEN. 

